Ronnie's New Book: Double Kiss - A review
In this episode the chief protagonist, one Frankie James, becomes embroiled in Balearic Islands related escapades. Sample of writing...
"...almost wishes one had been born a Kroat.
Oi, mate, two pints of Guinness,' some bumfluff-chinned, pumped-up teenage lump..."
"Double Kiss" is the second book in the Soho Nights series and already the whole thing is showing worrying signs of becoming an interminable foray into the lives of the kind of "dodgy geezers" that you might put up with on a drunk night out down the pub, but you would sincerely wish to forget about when sobered up in the morning. These are the kind of people for whom expressions such as, "Oi Oi Saveloy" stand for not just appropriate greetings, but also excuses to puff one's chest out and proudly proclaim to the world that they are, in the words of the characters, "streetwise motherf**kers". At the end of this book I felt as grubby as the characters themselves and would never have gone through this whole sordid experience had not Ronnie O'Sullivan's name been up there as the supposed author.
Another point is that, as a big Ronnie fan, I've been constantly subjected to Ronnie's unique version of the English language and I don't really believe he wrote this; I suspect that Ronnie was giving ideas to a wordsmith who then wrote a deliberately average book, packed full of slang, in order to sustain the illusion that Ronnie wrote it on some rainy day.
I suppose the question is: Is it any good? Well, it's not rubbish; but it hardly sets the world on fire with new visions of a shadowy underworld either. Generally forgettable.
Marks out of 10....four. Stick to snooker Ronnie!
"...almost wishes one had been born a Kroat.
Oi, mate, two pints of Guinness,' some bumfluff-chinned, pumped-up teenage lump..."
"Double Kiss" is the second book in the Soho Nights series and already the whole thing is showing worrying signs of becoming an interminable foray into the lives of the kind of "dodgy geezers" that you might put up with on a drunk night out down the pub, but you would sincerely wish to forget about when sobered up in the morning. These are the kind of people for whom expressions such as, "Oi Oi Saveloy" stand for not just appropriate greetings, but also excuses to puff one's chest out and proudly proclaim to the world that they are, in the words of the characters, "streetwise motherf**kers". At the end of this book I felt as grubby as the characters themselves and would never have gone through this whole sordid experience had not Ronnie O'Sullivan's name been up there as the supposed author.
Another point is that, as a big Ronnie fan, I've been constantly subjected to Ronnie's unique version of the English language and I don't really believe he wrote this; I suspect that Ronnie was giving ideas to a wordsmith who then wrote a deliberately average book, packed full of slang, in order to sustain the illusion that Ronnie wrote it on some rainy day.
I suppose the question is: Is it any good? Well, it's not rubbish; but it hardly sets the world on fire with new visions of a shadowy underworld either. Generally forgettable.
Marks out of 10....four. Stick to snooker Ronnie!
Last edited by Andy Spark on 29 Dec 2017, edited 1 time in total.
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Andy Spark - Posts: 1639
- Joined: 29 May 2011
- Location: Bournemouth
- Snooker Idol: Ronnie Luca and Thais
- Highest Break: 78
- Walk-On: Alkan: piano etude op.35 no.12